Published March 17, 2021
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Department is requesting a $28,494,647 budget for fiscal year 2022, which begins on July 1.
Superintendent Kristen Vogel said during the School Committee’s March 9 meeting that the proposed budget represents a 6.92 percent increase over FY21’s $26,651,605 allocation. Similar to previous years, the School Department is requesting a $250,000 capital budget for technology expenses.
“We feel that this recommended budget will support the success of all of our students and will allow all of our teachers to excel in the classroom,” said Vogel. “This is a level-services budget.”
Vogel is requesting 2.4 new positions in the FY22 school budget. She also wants to make an existing part-time middle school position full-time.
In the wake of increasing elementary school enrollment, Vogel is looking to hire two elementary school teachers. She said one teacher will be added to each school.
“The two teachers are needed to maintain the class sizes at the elementary schools as enrollment continues to increase,” said Vogel. “We know that keeping class sizes small allows teachers to develop positive relationships with their students and develop a complete understanding of who they are as learners. This is essential to providing each student the opportunity to grow and find success as a person.”
Vogel said school officials are projecting that Summer Street School will need five kindergarten classes, four first grade classes, four second grade classes, four third grade classes and five fourth grade classes next year. She said Huckleberry Hill School is projecting to need five classes for kindergarten, first grade and second grade. She said Huckleberry Hill is also projecting that four third grade classes and four fourth grade classes will be needed next year.
“This is result of the increasing enrollment the New England School Development Council had predicted would be occurring,” said Vogel. “We are seeing it happening. That is why we are building additions onto both of our schools. In order to maintain those class sizes, we need to add both of these classroom teachers.”
School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman said keeping class sizes small is critically important.
“With the elementary schools getting bigger, we need to make sure these classes are at a size that will maximize learning,” said Hayman. “Coming out of a pandemic, maintaining reasonable class sizes is going to be more important than ever before.”
School Committee member Phil McQueen concurred with Hayman’s viewpoint.
“The foundation of effective teaching is those relationships teachers build with their students,” said McQueen. “These new teachers will be essential as we transition back into a post pandemic world. We have to get everybody reconnected again and working together again so that students can maximize their potential.”
Vogel is also requesting a .4 elementary physical education teacher.
“The .4 physical education teacher is needed at the elementary level due to increasing enrollment,” said Vogel. “We currently have a .6 physical education teacher who splits between two schools. This will make the position full-time and the teacher will continue to be split at both schools.”
The last position Vogel is requesting is a 1.0 reading specialist for Lynnfield Middle School. She said this position will replace a current reading tutor at the middle school.
“This position is needed so that we can continue reading services for students who require it in their IEP,” said Vogel. “As students transition from elementary to middle school, we need to ensure that these services are being met. The reading specialist will allow special educators to better support the students’ access to the general education curriculum.”
In response to a question from School Committee Vice Chairman Rich Sjoberg, Vogel said the other reading tutors at LMS will be staying put.
“This is a different position than those reading tutors,” said Vogel. “This particular reading tutor provides reading services and support. The reading specialist would be focused on providing specialized reading services to students.”
School Finance Director Tom Geary informed the Villager that, “Each position is budgeted for about $69,000.”
Vogel has budgeted $1,335,857 for special education out-of-district tuition in FY22, which is higher than the $980,398 budgeted this fiscal year. She has also budgeted $563,603 in special education out-of-district transportation.
“The services and support we provide our students are dependent on their individual needs as learners,” said Vogel. “In order to meet their learning needs, some students need support outside of the district. As the needs of our students become more complex, our transportation costs increase.”
Vogel said the School Department is requesting $250,000 for technology expenses.
“In order for us to maintain an environment for our students and teachers that supports excellence in teaching and learning, we need to continue to upgrade our Chromebook inventory as part of scheduled replacement,” said Vogel. “We also need to replace very outdated projectors and Smart Boards with flat panels. We also need to maintain our infrastructure.”
Vogel said the proposed FY22 spending plan will meet the “ongoing academic, social-emotional and mental health needs of students.”
“We know that we may need to go back and revisit this budget,” added Vogel. “We will certainly do that if we need to, but we believe this is a level services budget at this time.”
SC reaction
After Vogel gave an overview of the proposed school budget for FY22, Geary answered a variety of questions from the School Committee.
In response to a question from Sjoberg, Geary said teachers and other staff members will be receiving a 2.5 percent raise in FY22 as well as step increases, which is required in the different bargaining units’ respective contracts.
“For the whole staff, it is close to 3.5 percent,” said Geary.
Sjoberg also noted that a lot of school technology purchased this year was through CARES Act funds. He asked if that money could be carried over to next year.
“There are various buckets of the CARES Act,” said Geary. “Some money has to be used by this June and some can be carried over to next June. The majority of it will be used by this June.”
School Committee member Tim Doyle noted that the district might receive additional funds in the COVID-19 relief bill President Joe Biden signed into law last week. However, he said those funds will most likely include stipulations about how they get spent.
“It can’t be rolled into either the operating budget or capital budget,” said Doyle.
Geary agreed.
“A lot of the CARES Act money was linked to COVID-related issues such as cleaning schools, technology upgrades and one-time expenses related to the pandemic,” said Geary.
Hayman asked how much of the school budget is funded by Chapter 70 education aid.
Geary said between 10 and 15 percent of the school budget is funded by Chapter 70 education aid while property taxes, local receipts and meals’ taxes fund the rest. According to the Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services, the town would receive $4,669,881 in Chapter 70 funding under Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed FY22 state budget. The House and Senate will unveil their respective versions of the state budget later this spring.
“We are not receiving as much as the larger cities, but every bit helps,” said Geary.
Hayman noted that the school budget will also be presented to the Select Board and the Finance Committee. He said the School Committee will be holding a public hearing on the proposed FY22 budget sometime in May and
Town Meeting will vote to approve the final spending plan in early June.
“We need to be prepared to sharpen the pencil,” said Hayman.
Sjoberg agreed.
“Once we start working through this process, we will work with the town on the adjustments that need to be made that will serve our children, our staff and everybody in town,” said Sjoberg.
